CHEIA – A key research project for sustainable architectural education

Sustainability is one of the most current topics of our time. Issues regarding environmental protection, depletion of natural resources or carbon footprint reduction are on the international political agenda. The need to implement pragmatic solutions is proving to be increasingly imperative. The purpose of the CHEIA research project was to generate a collaborative core of sustainability experts, by strategically exploring the impact of transdisciplinary learning models and the opportunities offered by organising the 2023 edition of the Solar Decathlon Europe competition in Bucharest. The CHEIA project (an acronym for Holistic Competition, Integrated Academic Expertise) was conducted in 2021 at the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning (UAUIM), Bucharest, Romania. Although there are various global student competitions regarding our built environment, the uniqueness of Solar Decathlon lies in the transformative potential of the experience gained by participating in a holistic design, build & operate competition on the professional paths of all students and teachers involved. In the last decade, the 5 Romanian teams participating in the Solar Decathlon editions have formed networks of specialists motivated to innovate and generate knowledge. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, the Solar Decathlon Europe 2023 was cancelled in January 2022. However, the one-year efforts of organising this competition in Bucharest left a valuable mark on Romanian architectural education towards sustainability. This article will focus on two specific objectives of the CHEIA project that should be developed in the following years, without being influenced by the cancellation of the 2023 edition of the Solar Decathlon Europe competition. One objective consisted in identifying opportunities for active involvement of architecture students in creative practical activities towards sustainability. The second objective refers to establishing academic directions for implementing a new master’s program in sustainable building design at UAUIM. This extensive study started with an analysis of 15 international master’s programs dedicated to the design of sustainable buildings. The main conclusion highlighted the need to use innovative teaching and training methods in design, with practical applicability, preparing graduates for the challenges in the practical architectural field. Furthermore, two types of questionnaires were addressed to the two important poles in the teaching process: the faculty and potential students. One survey had the role of verifying the degree of interest of the teaching staff and their training needs in the field of sustainability. This paper will analyse the answers offered by the 48 respondents. The second survey received 128 answers from architects and students in the 5th and 6th years of study in a short interval of 10 days, having a high degree of relevance for our research topic. Given the major impact of the construction sector on the above-mentioned subjects, training professionals is a priority. The long-term goals are experiential learning, transdisciplinary research, practical application of integrated design principles and consolidation of sustainable attitudes and behaviours. In this context, profile universities have a key role in promoting current values by training specialists in the sustainable built environment.